If you've been suffering the privations of the ice storm and resulting electrical grid collapse this past week, just remember that whatever your conditions, they were much better than those faced by the Donner Party in the winter of 1846. At least...

Julie and Julia (2005) by Julie Powell puts the WHINE to wine and dine. Having read Comfort Food (2008) by Kate Jacobs and Garlic and Sapphires (2005) by Ruth Reich, I was interested to read Julie and Julia when my sister recommended it. Since I rarely...

It is time for Janet Evanovich to stop writing Stephanie Plum novels. I mean it. I started reading the series seven years ago when Seven Up was the most recently released book in the series and it quickly became my favorite series. I still read the new...

In looking for the next "good" book to read I happened upon a review of this title and was quickly drawn in by... well, just about everything. It centers around an unlikely book group. It makes mention of and draws parallels with some great...

This is a fascinating discussion of our relationship to the food we eat. Mr. Pollan first discusses the familiar Industrial Agricultural system, a topic that's been covered by many other books in one way or another, but Pollan provides a good overview...

As the Library moves towards providing more materials as downloadables, questions about devices to play them on arise. We can't recommend devices, but we can point folks towards reviews and recommendations by others. On our OverDrive site , you can...

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when gasoline prices rose from under eighty cents to the staggering price of $1.40 a gallon, the United States government implemented measures to reduce oil imports and improve energy efficiency. Flash forward twenty...

I have long been a fan of Anne Rice's legendary vampire and witch series so was intrigued enough to pick up this short autobiography. Rice describes the reasons behind her return to Christianity after 38 years as an athiest. She details her parochial...

The Absolutley True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie . With so much buzz about this book, I was really excited to find that Alexie was to be one of the speakers at this year's Southern Book Festival in Nashville TN. (If you have not been...

An odd and perhaps even a little disturbing novel, The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante, is the tale of a divorced mother who finds herself at a loss after her two daughters move out to live with their father. So she packs her bags and goes on holiday...

Most years I try to pick out and read at least one Christmas novel during the holidays. I thought I would share some of the titles I've enjoyed in years past. Some of the novels I've read are fairly traditional. I've never been a fan of Charles...

The Reader (1995 US) by Bernhard Schlink tells the story of its main character, Michael Berg, and his affair with an older woman. The larger story is about generations of German people, after the Holocaust, struggling with trying to understand what and...

Yes, that's the subtitle of the book I just finished. Wesley the Owl is a must for anyone who has ever been in love with an animal. The story is written by Stacey O'Brien, who was a lab assistant at Cal Tech when she adopted a 4-day-old barn owl...

Barbara Kingsolver fans, take note: her newest novel, The Lacuna , will be published in November 2009. Kingsolver's last fiction work, relased in 2000, was Prodigal Summer , a lovely book and book group favorite. According to BookPage 's blog...

I've read a few books about 9/11 that really touched me, and brought the events of that day home to me in a more personal way. Touching History: the untold story of the drama that unfolded in the skies over America on 9/11 by Lynn Spencer This book...